When do you know your policy's about to change?

Why, when law schools start suing you, of course.

GW Law School professors voted Friday to join a group of law schools suing the U.S. Defense Department for allegedly discriminating against gays.

If Law School Dean Michael Young approves the decision, the school will become a member of a coalition of law schools that claims the Solomon Amendment, which withholds federal funding from universities that do not allow the military to recruit on campus, is unconstitutional.

GW receives millions of dollars in federal funding each year in the form of financial aid and research grants. The University has not taken a position on the issue and would not be affected if the law school decided to join the coalition.

The underlying reason for the lawsuit is the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which stipulates that gay members of the military are subject to dismissal if they make their sexual orientation known.

The coalition, the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, said the amendment effectively forces universities to contravene its own non-discrimination policies by letting the military onto its campus. In 1992, GW adopted a University-wide policy banning discrimination toward gays.

"We believe the Solomon Amendment is a violation of our academic freedom," said Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights President Kent Greenfield, a law professor at Boston College.

Something's gotta give. We'll see what it is.

Really it seems a matter of who makes the final decision. If it's Rumsfeld or his fellow anti-gay ideologues, it'll be the Solomon Amendment. If it's the not necessarily ideological, but militarily pragmatic generals, it will be the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, since they'd hate to see a recruitment oppurtunity lost.

Keep a watching.

Via The Hamster.